88R14267 MEW-D
By: Allen H.B. No. 5111
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to requirements for the early college education program.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 29.908, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsections (b-3) and (h) to
read as follows:
(b) The program must:
(1) provide for a course of study that enables a
participating student to combine high school courses and
college-level courses during grade levels 9 through 12;
(2) allow a participating student to complete high
school and, on or before the fifth anniversary of the date of the
student's first day of high school, receive a high school diploma
and either:
(A) an associate degree; or
(B) at least 60 semester credit hours toward a
baccalaureate degree;
(3) include articulation agreements with colleges,
universities, and technical schools in this state to provide a
participating student access to postsecondary educational and
training opportunities at a college, university, or technical
school; [and]
(4) provide a participating student flexibility in
class scheduling and academic mentoring;
(5) allow a student to participate in the program
without receiving a scale score that indicates satisfactory
performance on a college readiness assessment instrument
designated by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board under
Section 51.334; and
(6) provide flexibility for school districts' and
open-enrollment charter schools' committees described by
Subsection (b-3) to have discretion over the eligibility of a
student to participate in the program, including by allowing the
student to be exempt from an assessment requirement related to the
program.
(b-3) A student's eligibility to participate in the program
shall be determined by, as applicable:
(1) the student's admission, review, and dismissal
committee;
(2) a committee established for the student under
Section 504, Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. Section 794); or
(3) if Subdivisions (1) and (2) are not applicable to
the student, a committee composed of the student, the student's
parent or person standing in parental relation to the student, a
school administrator, and a teacher.
(h) A high school designated as an early college high school
shall report through the Public Education Information System
(PEIMS) the number of students who were dismissed before graduating
from the high school in conjunction with the student's performance
on applicable Texas Success Initiative (TSI) college readiness
benchmarks prescribed by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating
Board under Section 51.334 on an assessment instrument designated
by the coordinating board under that section, disaggregated by
students' race, ethnicity, sex, grade level, and status as:
(1) students enrolled in a special education program;
(2) educationally disadvantaged students;
(3) emergent bilingual students, as defined by Section
29.052; and
(4) students experiencing homelessness.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.